In the 19th-century, the Russian empire built a vast railway system that bound Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia into Moscow’s trade network and sphere of influence.
It was also used in the 1940s to forcibly transport tens of thousands of Estonians in cattle cars to the Soviet Union’s gulags, where many were worked to death.
Those imperial links are slowly disappearing as the Russian system is replaced with new – narrower – railway lines that are used throughout the European Union.
One such project is Rail Baltica, a multibillion-euro project which was first planned as a symbol of Estonia’s pro-Europe future after the collapse of the Soviet Union and its later accession to the EU and NATO in 2004.
Today, Estonian workers are building the first leg of the intended 500-mile high-speed railway, battling freezing sub-zero temperatures.
However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has meant that the railway has taken on a new and crucial role.
If war breaks out between Moscow and NATO, it will be used to rapidly transport troops and equipment from the heart of Europe to the Russian border.
Priit Pruul, head of communications for the project, told The Telegraph: “Rail Baltica will be the backbone of NATO transportation.
“It could cut the transport time for military machinery and equipment from a week to 24 hours. Without it, the logistics would be way harder, way more complex.”
Rail Baltica Estonia’s Anvar Salomets chief executive: “The Russian empire gave us the railway and an economic corridor, but now they are the aggressor. No one can stand what is happening in Ukraine and that is why the mindset has rapidly orientated towards the EU.”
In addition to EU funds and supplies from Spain and Austria, the rails are being built with British steel, while the futuristic rail terminal in Tallinn (Estonia’s capital) was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects in London.
There are already some discussions about extending the route further north to Helsinki via a Channel Tunnel-style service and the possibility of setting up a sleeper train service from Tallinn to Berlin.
The three Baltic states closed their borders to Russia and Belarus after the 2022 invasion, though the imperial railway is still relied on for local transport. In Estonia, the government advises against all travel over the Russian border.
It has also been deemed important to phase out the Russian-style network, which uses 1520mm track gauges instead of the EU’s 1435 standard, due to the fact that the old network would enhance Russia’s ability to transport its own troops and supplies deeper into Europe if an invasion occurred.
Mr Svet said: “It’s the three and a half inches that divide us from the rest of Europe.
“It’s not just symbolic for us, it’s strategic. If you look at how war is being waged today in [the] 21st century – it’s crazy to even speak about that, but we have to speak about that because of Ukraine – we can see that front lines are determined by railway networks.
“When you have the railway, you have the supply. Where you have the supply, you can plan both defence and offence. I don’t remember which general said it, but battles are won with infantry and wars are won with logistics.”
